The Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, has appealed for more volunteers to help the Irish Catholic Church agency, Accord, assist in preparing for and supporting marriage. Dr Walsh is president of Accord.
"Because we live in a world which is characterised by busyness of people it has become more difficult in recent years to recruit new members. We do need more people coming forward for selection if we are to meet the demands for our service, especially in the areas of preparation for marriage and marriage counselling."
He was speaking at the agency's 35th annual conference this weekend in Cavan on the theme, Caring for Marriage in a Pluralist Society. He appealed for those who cared about marriage to consider working in the area and those experiencing difficulties in their marriage to seek help.
The keynote speaker was George S. Worgul jnr, professor of systematic theology and an associate director at the Family Institute of Duquesne University, Pittsburgh.
Accord has 731 volunteers who in 2004 carried out 28,939 marriage counselling hours, dealt with 5,288 cases (individuals and couples), were involved in 17,300 marriage preparation hours and dealt with 15,318 attendees at courses.
The agency began in Belfast in 1962 as the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council. In 1964 it was launched in Kilkenny and Wexford, while other centres opened around Ireland between 1965 and 1967.
